Some day they're gonna put real stores in MS...like the ones here up north where you can go into them and look at the difference between tv's....hope that happens soon for you, Ray.
I've got a 70" LG, going on about 4 years old....primary seating is about 7 or 8 feet away. It is not blurry...I have no clue what the resolution is....I do know that it is not 4K, nor ultra....I was truly blown away by the higher end tv's in the stores nowadays....and tho I'm not the least bit of an AV techie aficionado...I could tell a huge difference. When I bought mine, the difference was about $3K between mine and the one that the cool kids were gettin....too rich for my blood...no clue what any of them go for today
That said, I have NEVER, ever watched my tv and thought..."Gee...I wish this was an ULTRA or 4K...(or whatever the new great thing in TV's is)"....it's kinda like bluray; I can tell the sight/sound difference from a bluray dvd....but if I'm watching a regular dvd, it never occurs to me to think "I sure woulda preferred if this was bluray"...I just don't care enough.
As to the smart/not smart; my main tv is dumb; the sound/dvd system is smart. Works perfect for us.
One of the smaller tv's is smarter - and I like not having to use the peripheral type gear when I don't want to....it sorta goes both ways.
The tv that is in the 'exercise room' is very smart -- and perfect there -- I'm not looking for better sound system or dvd's or anything else...but the tv alone will stream Netflix and Amazon as well or better than that stuff clckbang mentioned...never had a problem with firmware not updating